Tag: Justin Baesman

Bellator 118 is Bellator season 10′s penultimate event. Joe Warren had a chance to claim the interim bantamweight title if he beat Rafael Silva. And that wording is deliberate. Silva missed weight, so if he won, Bellator wouldn’t award him the title. It was only a championship fight for Warren. Semifinal bouts for the welterweight tournament and summer series light heavyweight tournament took place as well.

What fights should you fast forward when you watch this card on your DVR and which ones should you watch intently? Read on and find out.

Cheick Kongo failed to capture Vitaly Minakov’s Bellator heavyweight title at Bellator 115. The main event was, essentially, the only noteworthy fight on the card. It didn’t start out this way though. A welterweight tournament semfinal was supposed to take place as well, but Andrey Koreshkovsuccumbed to the flu. His fight against Sam Oropeza will be rescheduled.

A middleweight tournament semifinal bout was canceled as well. Jeremy Kimball couldn’t make weight against Dan Cramer. Not surprisingly, Bellator wasn’t able to salvage the card on such short notice. What we got was a patchwork card filled with one-off “feature fights” that meant nothing. In case you’re still interested, we’ve recapped it for you:

If you were curious as to how different a night of fights being put together by Nick Diaz would be from a typical night of fights heading into last night’s WAR MMA 1, the short answer is “not too much (yet).” Despite some rule changes designed to prevent stalling and a one point deduction due to timidity during Cody Gibson vs. Darin Cooley – this is right around where you can insert your own Stockton Rules joke – seven out of twelve bouts went to decision. This isn’t to say that the fights were boring, but rather, that the special rules didn’t make much of a difference.

The main event of the evening saw UFC veteran Daniel Roberts take on Justin Baesman. The fight looked like it was in danger of being stopped just seconds into the first round, as Roberts caught Baesman’s kick, took him down and began punching away. But Baesman hung on, and survived the subsequent choke attempt, to get back to his feet and earn two takedowns by the end of the first round.

The second round saw Baesman continue to outwork Roberts, who was visibly spent from his opening efforts by this point. Roberts would earn a takedown of his own at the start of the third round – and spend most of the round in top control – but in the end it wasn’t enough to convince two of the three judges that he did enough to win the fight.

Unsurprisingly, the main event will feature a Team Cesar Gracie fighter – UFC veteran Daniel Roberts (14-4, 3-4 UFC) – fighting against the most formidable local opponent the promotion can find. Via NickDiazPromotions.com: